Interlude: Don’t Say Practice
Repetition is the Mother of Success, and the
Father of Irritation
Charles Reynolds, a master teacher and man of great enthusiasm
coined the first part of that phrase, and I added the second. When
you’re learning to play a song, you must play it over, and over, and
over, and over, often hundreds if not thousands of times. And not the
whole song at once, but measure by measure until you’ve got the
whole thing. Then you get to play the whole thing over and over and
over.
It’s a lot like jet skis—plenty of fun for the one doing it but not fun at
all for anyone who has to listen to it. Even if you’re Yo Yo Ma or
James Hetfield, the same phrase or scale or exercise played over and
over and over again will drive even the most patient person bug-nuts.
Get a private place to play if you can. Those you live with will love
you for it and will enjoy your music more when you’re ready to
perform it for them.How to Do It
There are as many ways to play as there are people who play, but all of
them share some similar characteristics. There are certain tools which
can make your progress on an instrument or voice much faster.
Some of these tools are crucial, some are less so, but all of them will put
you further down the road toward musical mastery if you use them
correctly.Equipment
Arturo Sandoval, a world-renown trumpet player, grew up very poor in
Cuba. He wanted to play very badly. He would walk miles to the next
village where someone had a copy of Arban’s Complete Conservatory
Method for Trumpet, a book that is hundreds of pages long, crammed
full of thousands of exercises and songs; the trumpet player’s bible.
Because he couldn’t afford the book, Sandoval kept returning to the
distant village until he had the whole book memorized.